It's not so Bad
by Sentra
Summary: Yamato and his father have been scrapping along the bottom of society just fine. Until Mr. Ishida loses his job, and now, Yamato could loose everything. Based on a true story. and Koushi will show up, no worries! FINISHED
1.

Yet another angst Yamato ficcy be yours-truly.  
  
Yamato and his father have been scrapping along the bottom of society just fine. Until Mr. Ishida loses his job, and now, Yamato could loose everything. Based on a true story.  
  
It's not so Bad By Sentra If I owned Digimon, it probably wouldn't be a kiddy show any longer.  
  
Yamato's PoV  
  
Most ppl, especially those like Mimi, can't imagine life without a bankful of money, but me and dad lived poor just fine. Sure, you don't get "nice" clothes, and most of the stuff you own was once someone else's, but it's not that bad. In fact, that's how I got my first guitar, it was a hand-me- down!  
  
Dad and I got along fine, with all the modern conveniences that you probably have: TV, running water, electricity, phone line, ect. We even had a little saved up for my future education.  
  
Until Dad lost his job.  
  
It was okay, for a while. But after a month, the bill collectors were calling all the time. Naturally, the phone was the first thing dad shut off. Unfortunately, it was the only reason my friends found out. I wasn't going to tell them, but Taichi called me to ask what the Math homework was, and the operator told him the number was no longer available.  
  
He asked me about it at school, and I think I answered him, but I'm not sure ^.^ I do have a tendency to blow him off.  
  
Dad got a part time job, but he still wasn't making much. I started pawning off my stuff, just little extra's that I didn't really need, so I could slip a couple bucks in his wallet when he wasn't paying attention.  
  
It helped, but still not enough. Next was the TV. That's okay, I don't watch it very often anyway. But then we could afford propane. No stove, and no hot water. By the end of the month, all the money was either to the electricity, or the rent. There wasn't any left for even food. Dad decided that the latter was more important, so we were out of electricity, too.  
  
That's the background of this story. I recounting it to you while enjoying some dry ramon under the light from the street. Dad is working again. As it is, I'm screening yesterday's newspaper, looking for anyone who might hire me. 


	2. 

* As it is, I'm screening yesterday's newspaper, looking for anyone who might hire me.  
  
Yamato and his father have been scrapping along the bottom of society just fine. Until Mr. Ishida loses his job, and now, Yamato could loose everything. Based on a true story.  
  
It's not so Bad By Sentra If I owned Digimon, it probably wouldn't be a kiddy show any longer.  
  
Yamato's PoV  
  
No one but me knows it yet, but today is my last day. I spent an hour talking to a man on the faculty phone this morning, and I have an interview for a job tomorrow afternoon.  
  
Taichi and Sora approach me (They're "steady" now, ya know).  
  
Sora speaks first, "Mat-kun? Are you okay? You look both excited and really sad."  
  
I shrug, offering no explanation. They'll both find out tomorrow.  
  
"Yea man, what's up with you? Did you're dad get the phone fixed yet?"  
  
"What do you mean, ph-" I broke off, relising this must of been my excue earily on. Luckly, Taichi's a dolt.  
  
"You're broken phone, dummy! The one you're dad ran over with his van!"  
  
I know I look sheepish, but inwardly I'm shaking my head. How can he seriously believe that! How can you run a telephone, located in you're apartment, over with a van, the was demolished during the Myotismon thing a couple *years* ago!  
  
Sora, however, is not a dolt. "Do you mean the van that you're Dad had during the Myotismon -"  
  
Luckily for me, the bell rings, and I dart forward to take my seat. Taichi follows me in, but Sora is eyeing me strangely. Let me tell you a bit about them. they say that they're going "steady" but it's really an excuse to gain the attention of the student body. Once it's out that you're attached, every one wants you. Sora couldn't care less, but Taichi is letting her copy his Social Studies Test.  
  
Taichi is the one in it for the attention, but he still getting even less. And he's failing SS. He copies from the kid across from him, who has a "B" test. Since they are alternated, Taichi has an "A" test. And since Sora is next to him, she has a "B" test. Gotta give Sora some credit. She may not know SS, but she knows Tai. And her class test system. Poor Taichi.  
  
School continues on, as always, a long nap time for some *Coughtai* or a time to stare off into space and wonder about tomorrow. Buy the time last bell sounded, I was feeling a little anxious. I never had a real job before. I mean, sure, Jou and I had gotten in that whole thing with Eggy back in the Digiworld, but I didn't get paid for that.  
  
Once I get home, my stomach starts being a little too vocal, and grudgingly, I peeking in the cooler by the door. Empty.  
  
/Sorry tummy, but you gonna have to wait again/  
  
I sat down on my bed, and looked around my room. I don't know how dad has missed the fact the I'm sitting on the *only* piece of furniture in my room. I got almost ¥54000 ($300) for my dresser.  
  
Yeah. So all that's left in my room is a mattress on the floor, and a singe box, with some extra-clothes, a comb, my harmonica, and a book or two. My life is down to a single box.  
  
For a second I try and imaging one of the others pulling this off. Sora, maybe. Koushiro.... if the kid couldn't even go to summer camp without his laptop I doubt he could fit all his hardware gizmo techy stuff in one box ... Jou, I don't know, he carried a doctor's office in his bag, so he could maybe pull it off. Mimi - I laugh at the though of how big of a box that girl would need - maybe a block by two. Hikari could. I've seen the room she shares with Taichi, she HAS to live out of a box, or she'd loose it in his stuff. Which would make Taichi another BIG no All that's left is Takeru. It saddens me, that I don't know. I've never been over at his and mom's place. I don't even know it my own brother is a tidy organized neat freak, like Koushiro, or a Taichi and Mimi, stuff every where. He could be causal, and conservative, like Jou and Sora, or he could be a Hikari.... or me. Not much at all, but okay with it. 


	3. 

* I gotta get a job.  
  
Yamato and his father have been scrapping along the bottom of society just fine. Until Mr. Ishida loses his job, and now, Yamato could loose everything. Based on a true story.  
  
It's not so Bad By Sentra If I owned Digimon, it probably wouldn't be a kiddy show any longer.  
  
Note on this chapter: Screw taxes, they don't exist for Yamato-kun!  
  
Yamato's PoV  
  
I decided to start looking at something quiet, and clean. The local library was opening up, and I knew, none of my friends would ever come here. Taichi and Mimi couldn't keep quiet; Jou and Koushiro have there own libraries; And Sora and Hikari wouldn't come by themselves. So that was where I decided to work.  
  
And by the end of the day, I had signed my first work contract.  
  
I'd start off small: backroom work. Mostly check books back in, and fix up the older ones. During slow hours, me and another kid would crawl out of the back and shelf the books, helping then with any cleaning that needed to be done.  
  
My co-worker, as I call her, is quiet too. I think she said her name to me, but I don't remember it. Plus that was the only think she said to me. I've caught her a couple times reading the books, as she checked them in. The pay isn't much, only ¥900 ($5) an hour. But every little bit helps, right? I was amazed by the end of the month, when boss-lady handed me a check made out for ¥24300 ($135) That's 27 days of working, Saturday's included!  
  
When I got home that night, I was so pleased with myself. But when I got to the door, the landlord-dude was standing in the doorway. With my dad.  
  
Even with my check, we didn't have enough for the rent money.  
  
Dad had me retrieve my box form my room, and I went to the parking garage to wait for his at the car. (It's an old Toyota Tercel, Standard, and older than me.) Dad came down later, and wordlessly unlocked the vehicle. I got in quietly, and looked up to him. He had my check in his hand, and was straightening out the corners.  
  
"I guess this is why you've been cutting school all month." He finally says.  
  
"Dad, I just wanted to help-"  
  
"Yamato! You can't just drop school! How are you gonna make it as an adult if you quit now!"  
  
"Dad, I've got a job!"  
  
"No! Yamato, you gotta go back to school."  
  
I felt bitter then. I know i shouldn't feel like this, but... "Dad, we don't even have a place to stay anymore! What makes you think that I'm gonna go back now!"  
  
He starts the car, and pulls out of the garage. "Look, my job now might pull us out, but not just yet. But my next pay check, we should be able to get a new place. I can sleep in the car, or at work, but not you. You're going back to school."  
  
"But dad-"  
  
"No buts, Mat. I talked with Izumi and Yagami today. Yagami's would like to take you in, but you know as well as I that they really don't have the room. Izumi-san has offered to let you stay with them."  
  
I sulked in the seat. I didn't want to be separated from dad, but he could go around watching over me.  
  
Sure enough, that's where we went. By the time you had to turn on the headlights, we were knocking on the Izumi's door.  
  
Koushiro's mom smiled at us as she let us enter, and, remembering that not all of us are uncivilized *Coughtai* I bowed slightly to the adults.  
  
My dad exchanged pleasantries while Mrs. Izumi offered to take my coat. I set down my single box, and pulled off the jacket. As she walked away, the called back to come on it. I shot my dad 'the look' and bent down to remove my shoes. I then hoisted my box up and followed her.  
  
Mr. Izumi and my dad continued to chat at the door.  
  
Koushiro gave me a friendly bow as I entered the kitchen, and I shook my head at him.  
  
"Yamato, I'm glad we can offer you our house," his mother replied, and Koushiro had me follow him to a small bedroom.  
  
"We have created a livable area for you here. It was exclusively utilized for accumulating dust, but I'm assured it will fulfill any requirement you potentially might acquire of it."  
  
One pay check do I have to try and figure out what he just said. 


	4. 

AN: I read my reviews, and I want to apologize for my typo in chapter 2, were I spelt people, ppl. Gomen. and for my other anonymous reader, Koushiro has arrived.  
  
* One pay check do I have to try and figure out what he just said.  
  
Yamato and his father have been scrapping along the bottom of society just fine. Until Mr. Ishida loses his job, and now, Yamato could loose everything. Based on a true story.  
  
It's not so Bad By Sentra If I owned Digimon, it probably wouldn't be a kiddy show any longer.  
  
Yamato's PoV  
  
My dad straightened everything out with the school, and when I went back on the following Monday, about 1/2 the student body regarded my the same way as a ghost.  
  
And after spend the weekend politely trying to understand the Koushiro Language, and was not in the mood for the thousands of kids repeatedly asking where I was. I started to long for my job back at the library.  
  
Finally, Koushiro came to my rescue. Interesting how the same one to give me my headache was the one watching out for me, so it didn't get worse. He shooed them all away, and I thanked him.  
  
"It was certainly by no means a problem, Yamato-kun."  
  
It was weird. Koushiro and I had been friends back with the Digimon stuff, but slowly, we'd drifted apart. I never meant to go a different way than the others, but we are all so different. And I always managed to make myself the odd man out. But now, having to see Koushiro every day, and he doing so well to look after me, I feel ;like I've been selfish the past couple years. Like I've pushed them all away. Maybe I have.  
  
What really happened that first day back, I really don't know for sure. As we, Koushiro and myself, walked back to Koushiro's apartment, we, as he said, conversed.  
  
"Yamato-kun? How did your initial day back progress?"  
  
"Um, it was fine."  
  
"Not to be intrusive, but if you wish for any extra help, I would be happy to tutor you in any subject you may need help in."  
  
Thank you for reading. I also want to point out, I really appreciate reviews, but if you could at least leave an email, it would be nice. I wont write anything cruel, but I dislike replying to reviews in the chapters. 


	5. 

*" I would be happy to tutor you in any subject you may need help in."

Yamato and his father have been scrapping along the bottom of society just fine. Until Mr. Ishida loses his job, and now, Yamato could loose everything. Based on a true story.

It's not so Bad

By Sentra

If I owned Digimon, it probably wouldn't be a kiddy show any longer.

Yamato's PoV

Koushiro was an awesome teacher, once you got around his speech - although, my Language Arts teacher is very happy with my new found vocabulary. His family was great too, but I still miss Dad.

I got a letter from him at the end of every week. He'd write about jobs, and how he couldn't wait to see me again and I'd write him back. About two months later, I didn't get a letter. Nor did I the next week.

Koushiro's dad keeps telling me not to worry, but I can't help but worry. I couldn't help it. I left the Izumi family a note, I didn't want them to worry either, and headed out one night. I made it about a block, when I noticed *someone* was following me. I hid around the corner, and waited for them. When they got close enough, I attacked.

"Mat! Mat! It's me! It's me, Izzy!"

I held off my punch, and let him go free. "Eh... sorry Izz' I guess I owe you an apology?"

"No, No. It was entirely my fault. I should not be butting into you're escapade. But I also figured, that you did not wish to go about this alone?"

I smile at him. "Yeah, you can tag along."

We walked down the street. And we walked. And we walked.

*

Man, I've been trying for two weeks to beef up this chapter, and all it done is delay this for everyone. I really sorry. Hopefully, the next chapter will come sooner.


	6. 

*And we walked.

Yamato and his father have been scrapping along the bottom of society just fine. Until Mr. Ishida loses his job, and now, Yamato could loose everything. Based on a true story.

It's not so Bad

By Sentra

If I owned Digimon, it probably wouldn't be a kiddy show any longer.

Yamato's PoV

I hadn't really planed of this sudden leave, and I never expected Koushiro to want to tag along with me. It was nice however, to have company. We walked for a couple days, from what I gather, and we hitched rides between cities. We had no clue on where to go, and I started to regret the choice after a couple days out. I would of been fine, but I started to worry about Koushiro. I think he caught a cold.

"Oh, no, Mat. I'm fine, really. Superb, and Feeling outstandi- EWCHO!"

Yeah, really fine. I really wanted to keep looking for dad, but Koushiro needed to looked after. I thought of Jou, and made up my mind to look for a place to help Koushiro get better. A hospital.

Tai had told me his sister got sick in the DigiWorld after we split up. As I carried my friend to the building, I thought of Tai, and Jou and Hikari. I miss them, ya know.

The nurse wasn't real happy when I told her my little story, which she went and told EVERYONE! Jeez, like I really wanted the whole world to know.

As long as I can remember, people have told me everything happens for a reason. I never really aid attention to them until right then. If I had left by myself, Koushiro would never have gotten sick. I would of never taken him to a hospital, this annoying nurse would of never yelled out my problem, and this volunteer would of never heard it to tell me she'd seen my dad.

Strange how things work out. This volunteer said she'd seen Dad at church earlier that week. I ran out to the sanctuary she told me about. It took two days for Dad to come, but sure enough, there he was. He walked up to the front of the room, and I watched him sit in the front pew. I stood in the aisle, waiting for him. Finally he stood up.

I know I missed him, but never as much as right then.

Later he explained that he'd written the postal code down wrong. That's why hid letters never came. Koushiro ended up being fine - until he got home. Dad made me go back, but less then a week later, he surprise me. He got a job. And an apartment.

I said bye to the Izumi's. I really liked them, but I'd rather stay with Dad.  I'd also like to say that we lived happily ever after, but I know you wouldn't believe me. We still have rough spots, but we work them out. And I think I'll be okay.

But ya know what. I never woulda made it thought it with out Koushiro and his family.

Fini

Thank you to my "Koushiro" and her family. I never woulda made it with out your love.,


End file.
